U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," immigrants and visitors alike, because of what he describes as hatred among "large segments of the Muslim population" toward Americans. The Associated Press is asking Muslims around the world for their thoughts on his proposal:

AYOUB MUSTAFA, a 42-year-old major with the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces battling the Islamic State group, said Trump's rhetoric reminded him of that of the Islamic State group, known also as Daesh, after its Arabic language acronym.

"This man is encouraging the same kind of hatred as Daesh."

FERAS ALI ABOU GHABEN, a 30-year-old Palestinian American stock broker:

"Trump has managed to gain votes through hate speech. I do not see anyone doing anything about it and that scares me. What terrified me even more was the applause that came after his speech."

AHMED YOUSRI, a 23-year-old banker in Cairo, says Trump's proposal may play into the hands of the Islamic State and help the extremist group find more recruits.

"We must also blame our media and religious leaders for not preventing extremist thought from expanding. That is their role and they are not taking it as seriously as they should. But what Trump is doing is giving IS a more legitimate cause for its existence. It will justify their acts and help them recruit people."

Shiite muslims pray together while they rally for peace outside of the White House, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015, in Washington. President Barack Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday night about the steps the government is taking to fulfill his highest priority: Keeping the American people safe. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Pakistani Muslims offer afternoon prayer at Memon mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

AMR ALI, a 30-year-old chemist living in Cairo:

"The idea by itself is insulting and offensive. If they are going to ban all Muslims because of the people that Muslim terrorists killed, then let's ban all Europeans because the people who were killed during colonial times."

IMTISAL AHMED, a student of linguistics at the NUML university in Islamabad, linked Trump's proposal to last week's killings in California by Pakistan-born female shooter Tashfeen Malik and her husband.

"We admit that she has done a very bad thing, but the whole Muslim nation should not be punished over one bad act of some individual. If this ban is imposed, many students won't be able to go and study in the United States."

Pakistan Trump Muslims Respond

A Pakistani student Imtisal Ahmed talks to The Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Imtisal said, Trump was apparently frustrated and disturbed over the mass shooting in California. Pakistani Muslims condemned Trump for calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

ADHAM HAMADA, 34-year-old Cairo businessman who works in adventure travel:

"How will they know if I'm Muslim or not. It's not in my passport. That's why I feel it's just political talk."

BASSEM YOUSSEF, former talk show host known as the Jon Stewart of the Middle East:

(On Twitter) "I didn't know Donald Trump was fluent in Nazi."

Pakistani Muslims offer afternoon prayer at Memon mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Iranians make their way at the sidewalk of Enghelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) St. in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

NAWAZISH ALI, a taxi driver in Islamabad:

"Politicians before elections make controversial statements, and I don't think anyone should take the statement of this American presidential candidate seriously."

AASIM SALMAN, 47-year-old owner of a coffee shop in Baghdad:

"I visited the coffee shops in the U.S. and saw many Americans sitting there, smiling and laughing. I don't see any difference between us, why does Trump want to divide us?"

Aasim Salman, 47, owner of a coffee shop, speaks to the Associated Press about comments by U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. "I visited the coffee shops in the U.S. and saw many Americans sitting there, smiling and laughing. I don’t see any difference between us, why does Trump want to divide us?" he asked. "I’m confident the American people will punish him and not vote for him at all. This would bring American back to past centuries when the U.S. suffered from racial discrimination." (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

AMR KHALIFA, 29-year-old banker and business owner in Cairo who was planning to travel to Las Vegas and Miami next summer with friends, speaking in English:

"Actually, since the events in France happened, I've been thinking that 2016 or so is going to suck for a single, Muslim Arab dude getting a visa anywhere in the world, basically."

USAMA SALLAH, prominent Palestinian businessman in Jerusalem who lived in the U.S. for 14 years:

"I will continue to visit the United States whenever possible because I know that America is a great country in which there is no place for such racist opinions. And for those who agree with him, I ask: How would you feel if Arab and Muslim countries decided to ban Americans from entering them?"

AZIZA YOUSEF, a computer science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

"Why is it that when there are crazy people who happen to be Muslim, they blame all Muslims? I will not be responsible for someone who commits a crime who happens to be a Muslim. I will not defend myself or defend Islam because a guy or person who happens to be Muslim did something stupid."

SOMCHAI JEWANGMA, an officer with Thailand's Sheikhul Islam Office, which governs the country's Muslims:

"It's true that there are Muslim extremists, those who don't have good intentions for Islam. But there are 1.7 billion Muslim people in the world. If we were all bad, then the world would be uninhabitable."

Keysar Trad, chairman of the Sydney-based Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, poses for a photo in front of his home in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. "Donald Trump’s statement is a desperate statement by a desperate man who knows that he’s clutching at straws and has no chance of winning the election," said Trad. "So he’s trying to win it off the back of the Islamophobia industry." U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," immigrants and visitors alike, because of what he describes as hatred among "large segments of the Muslim population" toward Americans. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

AZRA KHAN, president of the Canberra Islamic Center in Australia, said Trump's proposal is the wrong way to address last week's attack in California:

"He could better improve the situation if he were to say, 'Let the U.S. take guns more seriously and ban them.' That one simple solution would be much more suitable and make the streets of America far safer."

KEYSAR TRAD, the chairman of the Sydney-based Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said Trump's statement reflected political desperation.

"Donald Trump's statement is a desperate statement by a desperate man who knows that he's clutching at straws and has no chance of winning the election. So he's trying to win it off the back of the Islamophobia industry."

Trump Muslims Respond

Palestinian Saif el- Islam Doglas, head of the student council in Bir Zeit University, sits at the the university campus while he speaks with the Associated Press about comments from U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, who called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," , in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit, near Ramallah, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. "The call from the U.S. Presidential candidate Trump contradicts the U.S. constitution and is a call for the reinforcement of hatred and racism," Doglas said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Trump Muslims Respond

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day at Patriots Point aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. Trump defended his plan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" by comparing it with President Franklin Roosevelt's decision to inter Japanese Americans during World War II. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

Trump Muslims Respond

Pakistani Naqash Bhatti talks to The Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Bhatti said, "I think the demand to ban the entry of Muslims into the United States makes no sense. Better sense must prevail if the world has to win the war against terrorism." Pakistani Muslims condemned Trump for calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Trump Muslims Respond

Z.A. Qureshi, a professor at the International Relations department at the private Preston university talks to the Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Qureshi said Donald Trump has “made an irresponsible statement” and “I am shocked and amazed to know that a presidential candidate can go to such an extent for political gains.” Pakistani Muslims condemned Trump for calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Trump Muslims Respond

Thamer Gharaib, 50, speaks to the Associated Press about comments by U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. “I am a businessman, I import goods from America to Iraq and I have plans to enter the U.S. market, but what happens when the President of the greatest and most powerful nation in the world thinks this way?" he asks. "I would tell him not to manipulate the feelings of the people just to win. The blood of the innocent is more important than winning.” (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Trump Muslims Respond

Sadia Hafeez, a university student in Islamabad, Pakistan, told the Associated Press :"Donald Trump is pitching non-Muslims against Muslims for political reasons," Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Pakistani Muslims condemned Trump for calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Trump Muslims Respond

Kim El Narsh, a 28-year-old Egyptian Muslim entrepreneur, poses for a photograph in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. “I think Donald Trump is an ignorant human who should not be allowed to run as president. He does not stand for what the U.S. stands for. How can he run for president when he does not respect what the founding fathers stood for. If Trump became president of the United States there would be a huge possibility it will become a non-United States of America,” said El Narsh reacting to Trump's speech. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Trump Muslims Respond

Gihan Nagui, a 27-year-old Egyptian Muslim marketing and research manager, poses for a photograph at her apartment in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. “It doesn’t upset me that much that he said this. It is when I see there’s a mass following that supports his idiotic rambling that worries me,” said Nagui reacting to Donald Trump's speech. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Trump Muslims Respond

Ahmed Samra, a 27-year-old Egyptian Muslim political analyst poses for a photograph at his apartment in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. “Donald Tump’s comments will only amplify the feelings of the Muslim population -- marginalized and demonized. His bigotry will only succeed in empowering the very radical groups he fears while alienating the entire Muslim community, which pays the highest price in fighting this evil,” said Samra reacting to Donald Trump's speech. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Trump Muslims Respond

Lana Karim, a 25-year-old Egyptian Muslim marketing and sales manager, poses for a photograph in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. In response to Donald Trump's call on Monday for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States", Karim says, “When we look at the history of the U.S. we find that it is a country that was made up of migrants from all walks of life. It is really sad to see that someone who’s extremely educated can think this way, let alone have the audacity to say a statement like that. Donald Trump’s statement set our worlds back one hundred years in terms of social acceptance and diversity.” (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Text from the AP news story, Muslims Criticize Trump's Proposal to Keep Them Out of US.

Associated Press writers Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq; Anusonadisai Nattasuda in Bangkok; Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Nour Youssef, Nariman el-Mofty and Maram Mazen in Cairo; Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi; Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan; Mohammad Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank; Nini Karmini in Jakarta; Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Lynsey Chutel in Johannesburg and Aya Batrawy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

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